Kouign Aamann The Jewel Of Pastries

The crown jewel of any home or professional baker is the Kouign-Amann ,a lush and fairly complicated to make butter cake. It takes time and patience yet it has its rewards. It can even be a healing experience for some

Regular contributor Yewande Komolafe wrote about this magnificent cake in yesterday's New YorkTimes Food section.Making the Kouign-amman , the Breton words for butter cake is like a climber scaling Mt. Everest. Hard work to do , but there's a feeling of triumph when it's completed. For Ms. Komolafe creating this  cake was also a healing process as well. She had first tried the cake in Montreal  at a bakery that specializes in making them, weeks after her daughter had a serious and frightening Covid infection.  within twelve hours of testing positive her litle girl had a fever so high that she developed febrile seizures. She lost consciousness and had to be rushed to the hospital. Ten hours later the child awoke wanting life to go back to normal. For her mother normal wouldn't return for a while Ms. Komolafe experienced a kind fo pervasive grief that folloowed her everywhere, even on their trip. The kitchen was her only refuge,.As she put it grief occupied all her senses but it neither aided or meddle in her cooking. She found an escape in the Kouign-amann. The patisserie's owner and chef Nicholas Henry let her make one in his kirchen. It helped her as making them six times since then has helped to dispel the grief that followed her.

Her recipe is not the bakery's original. The recipe 's steps are simple yet straightforward. There are three reipes , one for the dough, another for the butter itself (!) and  the third is for the aromatic syrup that soaks it. It is a yeast based dough. It also has the optional toasted sesame oil in it too of you want a nuttier flavor.  The butter part is for lamination and it's a combination of one and three quarter cups get good butter like Kerry Gold) sugar and Morton's salt. The syrup is a mix of granulated sugar, orange zest cinnamom, ground  ginger and cinnamon along with cardomon pods and whole cloves, These last two have to be crushed so they can give more flavor.The dough is a standard one mixed together in a mixer with a dough hook. The most complicated steps belong to the butter.Its' ingredients have to be combined in a stand up mixer using a paddle attachment It then has to be spread into a round and chilled while the dough rises. After the syrup is cooked then itpoured and swirled in the bottom of a greased skillet which will be used to bake the Kouign -amann. Assembly is  basically wrapping the dough around the butter to form a sort of envelope. In a nutshell, it's more folding and then pouring the syrup over it, spreading it with your fingers.It's first baked at forty five minutes in a 350 degree Farenheir oven and then flipped over. There's a second bake, with the cake being done when th e butter bubbling at the edges for an extra twenty to twenty five minutes. More syrup is added at this time. It's cut into wedges and served warm. 

The Kouign -amann is the star of any professional or home kitchen. Try this recipe if you want to create a delicious and lush pastry. It may be difficult to create but well worth it.

Thanksgiving Rules

 The Times Food section had an interesting article in their Wednesday Food section.It's about the upcoming and the Covid 19 vaccine controversy. What's a home chef to do? can we have the big dinners will two or three tables like we used to?

It used to be you shouldn't discuss sex , death pr politics at any table. as they have for centuries, these subjects can make for uneasiness or anger/ Now there's another problem with those of us who have been inoculated and those who are adamant against it. Do we set rules? Or isolate the unvaccinated at a kind of children's table , far from the rest of the party. Then there's the question of would doing such separation be an insult? Keep in mind that catching Covid and the delta variant are not as severe when you're vaccinated. You can mix people if you want and if they want.If someone wants to sit alone with a tray table in the living room let them. It's one less headache and everyone is happy. What about kids and babies? Kids from the ages of five to eleven are getting them. The little ones are usually placed at the traditional kid's table while the babies are usually sleeping in their carriers.You may encounter some parents who don;t want their infants near the unvaxxed kids. This can be tricky. An easy fix would be have the vaccinated kids siting with their folks while the ones who aren't sit with their folks at separate tables.

Another idea is having a Thanksgiving barbecue or tailgating party. This  allows for people to sit far away from each other.If the weather where you are is warm, then consider this. You can rent or have family and friends donate  card tables where they can sit . It's even a great milieu for deep frying a turkey too. This has t be done outdoors anyway. It will make for a memorable holiday dinner. Set up a long buffet table with gravy boats and sides. It can be cleared away for dessert to hold a variety of pies. For this also have a coffee urn along with a hot water carafe for tea. This last can be bought at Walmart. also set up the dessert table with sugar and sweetner packets along with  creamers and cans of whipped cream for the pie. The food can be served on sturdy  plastic dishes that can be saved or thrown away. Chinet has the best plastic dinnerware for this. What happens if you're in a colder climate or there's rain or even snow?You could cut down the guest list or to avoid snubbing, have the dinner with the immediate family pod and then invite guests over for dessert. Stagger the times  so you don't have a crowded house.

Thanksgiving may be tricky this year but there are ways to get around it. It's just a matter of diplomacy and logicistics There are ways to make everyone happy and satisfied with holiday meal and dessert.